Since 2011, 6.8% of NY marriages outside NYC have been gay couples

At least 6.8 percent of the marriages outside New York City have been gay couples since New York legalized same-sex marriage in 2011, figures from the state Health Department showed.

Yesterday was the two-year anniversary since same-sex marriage was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In 2011 and 2012, 5,101 gay couples were married outside New York City, the state’s records showed. That’s compared to nearly 70,000 heterosexual marriages.

Another 19,000 couples were married outside of New York City between July 2011 and December 2012, but one of the spouses didn’t indicate a gender on the marriage license, state officials said.

Nearly 10 percent of all marriages in the second half of 2011 were among gay couples. In 2012, the percent of gay marriages fell to 5 percent of the total marriages in which both genders were listed on the marriage license.

Sixty-two percent of the married gay couples were women, or 3,162 of the total same-sex marriage. There were 1,939 male couples.

The Health Department said the 2012 data is preliminary, and they didn’t have statistics by region or county. The data is culled from marriage licenses provided by city and county clerks outside New York City.

New York City keeps its own records, and it’s most recent data was not immediately available. As of February 2012, about 5,054 marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples in New York City.

Cuomo yesterday hailed the passage of the same-sex marriage law—a move that he has called the crowning social achievement of his first year in office.

“Two years ago today, New York state became a more just place, passing marriage equality for all couples and restoring our standing as a progressive leader in the nation,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Under the Marriage Equality Act, we ensured that same-sex couples would no longer be denied the rights and benefits that they are entitled to.”